'Sem' is a small, compact selection, to 1.5m, of this thicket-forming shrub. It has many upright stems and a distinctive leaf colouring; yellow-green flushed with bright reddish-pink and bronze in spring. Leaves become greener in summer, but redden in autumn; colouring is best in good light. Flowers are borne in stiff, erect, rather narrow panicles of small white flowers in summer